one of my nephews has to go for an entrance exam to get into a top-tier government-funded primary school.
ridiculous. i pay my fucking taxes so that we have a system of public education for all, not this multi-tier bullshit where people who can afford to go to the nicest places get the best education
@tariqk One of the biggest problems with modern education (at least in North America) is a one-size-fits-all mentality. There is one way to behave in a classroom, there is one way to learn, and there is one way to succeed. That is not how people function.
It is possible to avoid that, but it takes money (from gov't or private), a willingness to do things differently, and time and effort from parents.
@tariqk I didn't mean in that sense. I haven't had any contact with charter schools (I think that's what you're talking about) since I don't live in the states. But focusing on testing is a sure way to kill creativity and drive.
My son would not have done well at a traditional school. We've taken him out and he's thriving by taking online courses and going to an "unschool" 3 days/week.
We are lucky that my wife has the time to guide the process but not all kids have this luxury.
@aeisenberg oh yeah, totally, though! it's really a lot of effort to do that and it's not exactly accessible. i had a coworker who tried to do that and couldn't. it's a *lot* of labour, usually not compensated.
@aeisenberg only if you mean that the school system currently privileges a narrow criteria of achievement, disregarding class, disability, differing pace of development, for one purpose at the exclusion of everything else.
because I've heard “one size fits all” used to advocate “school diversity”, which appears to dispense with educational standards, or entrench economic privilege of rich families in the name of “choice”.